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> Compared to the herculean task of building supply chains to sustain a broad domestic EV market, tackling this problem from the demand side almost seems easy.

> Compared to the herculean task of building supply chains to sustain a broad domestic EV market, tackling this problem from the demand side almost seems easy. Proving that EVs can road trip may have been an important psychological hurdle for the technology to tackle, but it remains more psychological than real: the average American motorist drives about 40 miles per day and 95 percent of our car trips are 30 miles or shorter. I keep shaking my head at how people keep downplaying the range problem and explaining it away with average-based arguments. It's not psychological, and if people wanted the small cars the market would show it. This just reads like moralizing.

bryanlarsen 3y ago
How would you explain it better? I've done 4 1900 mile road trips in an EV, and have found that a 250 mile range would be sufficient. We stopped for bathroom breaks, food, sleep, etc. more often and longer than was necessary to charge the car.
- foobarian 3y ago
  Anecdotally, in my wider circle of people I interact with either online or at work/family/neighbors etc. and talked about this with at least half would not be served by the current charging infrastructure and charging UX, including myself. This is maybe a small sample size but I am very skeptical that this ratio would be much smaller at large. This is why when people come in saying that "250 miles is fine" and "we were going to be in the bathroom and restaurant for an hour anyway" it comes off as moralizing. It would be much more honest to just acknowledge the above and then state that for the good of the planet the more wasteful of us should adapt and maybe not demand dense 5-minute refuels, be more mindful planning roadtrips, work on supporting charging infra rollout, etc.
  - bryanlarsen 3y ago
    I've had those conversations. But when you dig further into those reasons the justifications often don't hold up. They'll say "I can't get an EV because I need to be able to drive from X to Y". So I punch that route into abetterrouteplanner, and >50% of the time the route is quite feasible on a 250 mile EV. If you've tried that and it doesn't work for you, fine. But many haven't.
- deleted 3y ago
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bryanlarsen 3y ago

How would you explain it better? I've done 4 1900 mile road trips in an EV, and have found that a 250 mile range would be sufficient. We stopped for bathroom breaks, food, sleep, etc. more often and longer than was necessary to charge the car.

foobarian 3y ago
Anecdotally, in my wider circle of people I interact with either online or at work/family/neighbors etc. and talked about this with at least half would not be served by the current charging infrastructure and charging UX, including myself. This is maybe a small sample size but I am very skeptical that this ratio would be much smaller at large. This is why when people come in saying that "250 miles is fine" and "we were going to be in the bathroom and restaurant for an hour anyway" it comes off as moralizing. It would be much more honest to just acknowledge the above and then state that for the good of the planet the more wasteful of us should adapt and maybe not demand dense 5-minute refuels, be more mindful planning roadtrips, work on supporting charging infra rollout, etc.
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  I've had those conversations. But when you dig further into those reasons the justifications often don't hold up. They'll say "I can't get an EV because I need to be able to drive from X to Y". So I punch that route into abetterrouteplanner, and >50% of the time the route is quite feasible on a 250 mile EV. If you've tried that and it doesn't work for you, fine. But many haven't.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]